


Dead End

by porterville



Category: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, F/M, Mario Shoots The Moon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:41:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29009214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porterville/pseuds/porterville
Summary: “Hey, you okay?”He looked down. Goombella had spoken softly, and had drawn no attention from anyone else. Mario was grateful for that as he took a steadying breath. “Mm-hm.”Some moments passed. “We’ll find her.”A sorta companion piece to "Home," but you don't have to have read that one.
Relationships: Mario/Peach-hime | Peach Toadstool
Kudos: 11





	Dead End

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, you ever notice how Mario and the gang got shot up to the moon with no plan for how they were gonna get back?? What's up with that, huh???

The last light shut off, leaving a silence that pressed in from all sides. Only by the light of the seventh Crystal Star, glittering in all its supernatural beauty, could they see each other. Mario looked at all of them, the six people who had followed him this far. To the _moon,_ of all places. 

“What do we do now?” Gonzo, cradled in Flurrie’s arms, was the one to speak up. The rest looked at him, then, one by one, their gazes turned to Mario. Even in the dim light, he could see that they were all waiting for him to take charge. 

Mario took the Star in his hands, and felt the now familiar pulsing life within. It was warm to the touch, a contrast to the deep chill still permeating the moon base. Panic, helplessness welled up in his throat, and he willed himself not to show any of it on his face. 

“Okay,” he began, “we need to start walking. They’ll have more escape pods on other ends of the building. They’re smart, they would have planned for it.” 

“Do you think so?” Koops asked, then looked to Vivian.

Ever a deer in headlights, she said, “M-maybe. Maybe there are more. I’m not sure.” Something seemed to occur to her. She conjured a flame in the palm of her hand. “D’you want me to-?” 

Mario gently put a hand on hers, registering the warmth. “No, save your energy.” He steeled himself, focused on the task at hand. “Follow me,” he said, holding the Star ahead of himself for light. Still, he could only see a few feet in front of him. The thought of outer space, just beyond these walls, waiting to swallow them up, loomed in his mind. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. 

They walked blindly for what seemed like hours. All Mario could see ahead was darkness and the luminous Star. They had them all, _finally,_ and it was all for _nothing._ They were further away from where they needed to be than ever, the seal on the door grew weaker by the second, and Peach was- could be-

“Hey, you okay?” 

He looked down. Goombella had spoken softly, and had drawn no attention from anyone else. Mario was grateful for that as he took a steadying breath. “Mm-hm.”

Some moments passed. “We’ll find her.” 

If Mario had been about to respond, he would have been cut off. Lights, bright blue lights, flickered on, dotting the hallway. 

The gang all started as if broken from a trance, looking up in surprise. They didn’t light the room full, and Mario could tell they were some sort of emergency lights; he remembered the same sort of lights coming on when his elementary school lost power. However, he noticed that the lights only lit up the part of the hallway they had yet to go down. 

His brow knitted, Mario took a few steps forward, the team following. The lights behind them clicked off, one by one, as they went. 

They were being ushered forward. 

“Is this…” Bobbery started. “Should we keep going?”

Mario saw no other way forward, and looking around at his friends, he knew they had all come to the same conclusion. 

— 

They progressed in relative silence, until they reached a dead end. 

He knew they must be in the deepest part of the base, and a voice in his head was telling him that they’d have better luck toward the surface, but another part of him felt like these lights must be here for a reason. Something was down here. 

Everyone was bone tired; Gonzo had fallen asleep hours ago, Koops was yawning, and his own head was swimming. These lights _had_ to lead somewhere. _Anywhere._

They were in what looked to be a basement, with a door leading God knows where. Goombella poked her head into the doorway. “Hey, there’s like, a bed and stuff in here.”

Mario walked ahead of her, holding the Star aloft. Indeed, there was a bed. There were also lockers, benches, a broom, a bedside lamp. Nothing of this bare bones bedroom stood out to him. What did was the half emptied suitcase and the unmistakable smell of her perfume. He walked up to the discarded belongings, almost feeling like he was gliding. He could heat Goombella behind him. “Okay, I hate to say it, but I think we should set up camp,” she said, and there was a murmur of agreement. Mario crouched down and rifled through the suitcase. Her gloves, her scarf, her stationary. His breath felt caught in his throat, and his stomach had long since dropped out from under him. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d sat there, and Goombella’s soft voice almost made him jump. “Try and get some sleep, okay?” He nodded, and he heard her footsteps get further away. He sat there a moment in the near silence, listening to the comforting sound of his friends’ breathing. He was holding the Crystal Star again, he realized, and it was pulsating a bit more urgently in his hands. He wished he could muster up the strength to throw it across the room.

No, he thought, these people did not deserve to be woken up like that. They’d been through enough. 

He slowly stood up, placed the Star in the middle of his sleeping friends, and then quietly walked out into the basement hallway. He felt lost. Utterly, utterly lost. Raking his hands through his hair, he thought, _what do we do? What do we do?_

After a moment, he looked up. In the darkness of the hallway, with no Crystal Star, he now saw another room a little ways away. And there was a faint light coming from it. 

Cautiously, he moved towards it, expecting another threat. But instead, he saw some sort of huge machine. It reminded him of pictures in old textbooks, the first computers that took up entire rooms. This one had what looked like an electronic eye -and it was looking right at him. 

“Um, hello,” he said. 

The eye blinked, and the computer’s monitor lit up brightly as if Mario had awoken it. “Hello,” a voice said back. It was staticky, definitely some sort of text-to-speech, but unmistakably directed at him. “You… are Mario… are you not?” 

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He took a few steps forward. “Who are you?”

“It is… my pleasure to meet you. I am… the main computer system of this base. I must tell you something. That is why… I brought you here.” It was struggling. “Princess… Peach…” 

Mario’s head snapped up at that. He closed the gap between them quickly, hands resting on the keyboard where she _must_ have written her letters. “You’re TEC.” 

In response there was static, and he panicked, thinking he was too late. “I… apologize.” The monitor’s light flickered, and Mario gripped the edge of the console, knuckles surely turning white. “M…. Mario… you know know that Peach is not here, do you not?”

His throat was dry. “Is she okay?”

“She is alive.” 

Mario all but collapsed in relief, burying his face in his hands. Urgently he looked back up at TEC, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Where is she?” 

“She is… with Grodus, in the Palace of Shadow… behind the Thousand-Year Door. Please… save Peach.” 

“H-how are we supposed to-“

“There is a teleporter,” TEC said, and his artificial voice was beginning to sound like it was underwater. “Please…. Teleporter room is on sublevel 2. There will be… a light above the door. I will… cease all… AI function… to operate the teleporter. Please…”

Mario let out a breath. He desperately wanted to shake TEC’s hand or clap him on the back, something, _anything_ to show his gratitude. “Is there- can I- What’s gonna happen to _you?”_

“I will cease to exist,” TEC said plainly. “But… if it will save Peach… I would… gladly do this.”

He didn’t have time to mince words, he knew. “Thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“Do not… worry about me.” The longest pause of all, then, “Until I met Peach… I new nothing of love…” Mario stared back, seeing nothing but his own face reflected in TEC’s screen, cast in blue light. “Tell her… thank you… for me.”

He looked resolutely back up at his eye, and nodded. TEC’s screen flickered, and a message popped up - _TEC-XX SYSTEM FAILURE REPORTED -_ and then, nothing. All the lights on the machine shut off, the safety lights ticked off, and the room was cloaked in a very silent darkness. 

Mario had never experienced such a total and oppressive dark, and he had to grope along the wall to find the exist. “Sublevel 2, sublevel 2,” he repeated under his breath, like a mantra. The glow of the Crystal Star guided him to the other room, back to his friends. Everyone was in various stages of waking; it seemed as if the lights shutting off had woken them all up. 

“There’s a teleporter,” Mario said, not keen to waste a moment. “Sublevel 2. C’mon, let’s go.” 

After a few answered questions and a quick head count, they were off the way they’d come, Mario leading the way. True to his word, a single blue shone above the teleporter room, which was brightly lit and humming with electricity. Mario gripped the side of the doorway in one last silent _thank you_ before ushering the gang into the teleporter. 

He could briefly see the flicker of the lights turning off before they were swept away from the moon for good. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey listen it's always darkest before the dawn!
> 
> I still have this idea that I'm gonna make a TTYD comic, but instead I just keep writing little oneshots. Ce la vie am I right? 
> 
> Anyway lemme know what you think and if ya want more stuff like this!


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